Shedding light on three distinguished lamp collectors
The Dill, Lister and Broughton collections are coming to market
The Dill, Lister and Broughton Collections hit the market on March 26th at Miller & Miller.
Miller & Miller’s March 26th sale of Historic Lamps and Lighting features an offering of nearly 300 lamps, gathered over the course of 4 decades by 3 longtime members of the Historic Lighting Society of Canada. This is the first time Miller & Miller has devoted an entire sale to lamps and lighting.
Amongst the many rare and interesting lamps up for auction, the lives of the devoted collectors also shine beautiful light upon this sale.
Keith Dill: An uncompromising passion for “the best”
Over 40 years ago Keith Dill, longtime owner of Brock Ford Sales (Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie), set out to do what had never before been done in Canada: build the best assortment of Northeastern American overlay lamps out there. This was no easy task, especially considering his criteria was restricted to lamps produced between 1820 to 1880.
“The objective was always to collect the very best,” says Keith.
Collecting the “best,” such as one of his favourites, the Cobalt Blue Bear Paw Overlay Lamp, has taken Keith Dill decades, a feat requiring unwavering perseverance and the ability to pounce when the opportunity arose. “This particular lamp had passed through several collectors and dealers before I found it in Australia and repatriated it,” he says, with a grin. To the average person it is a work of art but to a collector like Dill, it is also an achievement.
Keith Dill’s Patriot Lamp, (lot 471) manufactured in the Boston area circa 1860, is expected to be a top performer in the sale. “The most popular lamps with collectors are American,” offers Keith. The lamp’s stunning red, white and blue fonts are sure to attract the many American collectors participating in the sale.
Dill’s American Three-Armed Gilded Brass Fluid Peg Lamp Girandole is offered as lot 471 in the sale.
“Period parts, chimneys, burners have always been high on my want list too,” adds Keith. He recalls the delightful story of his first purchase of a quantity of historic parts from a seasoned collector:
“He reached under his workbench and pulled out a large box of burners. And so we agreed to a trade. I could have the box in exchange for a used Volkswagen he’d seen on my car lot. Never regretted it for a minute!” Keith laughs. “I got the best of the deal.”
Valerie Lister: An academic with an urge to collect
Upon retiring from her career as a school teacher, collector Valerie Lister returned to university to study a topic that was entirely foreign to her academic peers: 19th century mechanical lamps. Not only did her sleuth work earn her a graduate degree; it also brought her closer to the Historical Lighting Society of Canada. Drawing on her thesis and backed enthusiasts in the Historical Lighting Society of Canada, she wrote a book that lamp collectors will cherish forever: Trading Places: Robert Hitchcock and Richard Mott Wanzer: American and Canadian Manufacturers of Mechanical Kerosene Lamps in the Late 19th Century.
Valerie spent the next 40 years doing what most people only dream about: traveling North America and Europe. In her travels she gathered the lamps that comprised her collection including ancient pottery lamps and whale oil lamps. In all, over 400 lamps found their way to Valerie and her husband Eric Lister’s Ottawa home. Collecting was a theme in the Lister household, as Eric was a car collector himself.
A friend once admitted that it was the Listers who introduced him to the thrill of collecting. He recalled walking by Valerie and Eric’s house and marveling at the phantasmagoria of lights ablaze in the couple’s front bay window.
“One room was entirely devoted to the lamps,” he adds. “It was a sight to behold.”
Visitors to the Lister showplace were invariably shown Valerie’s piece de resistance: the Madonna Night-Clock & Olmstead Miniature Kerosene Lamp, a remarkable piece which is offered as lot 521 in the Miller & Miller sale.
Always a buyer and never a seller, Valerie Lister’s lamps have now been entrusted to Miller & Miller to find homes in new collections.
David Broughton: Sir Lampsalot
The label “Renaissance Man” surely captures the essence of the late lamp collector David Broughton. David was a clever man who liked clever ideas. In his life, David mastered the game of chess, listened to classical music, traveled the world, and developed an appreciation for the finest of wines. He also had an insatiable appetite for learning that led him into the esoteric world of 19th century lamp collecting.
Anyone who knew David will remember ‘that twinkle in his eye’. It could be seen from the other side of the room as he delivered the ‘aha moment’ to another collector, explaining some tiny nuance that made one patent-dated burner or chimney better (or worse) than another. Although his 30 year career at Ontario Hydro brought him to the heights of Senior Advisor in Corporate Human Resources, his secret passion was always historical lamps and lighting. He eventually became President of the Historical Lighting Association of Canada.
David’s interest in antique lamps and lighting included not only the lamps themselves, but the stories behind them. “He was also an avid collector of the ephemera—the paper history that went with the lamps,” says his surviving wife of 47 years, Mary Jane Broughton. The ephemera David sought after included the original manuals, envelopes, photos, and other paperwork that accompanied the lamps.
Two Clark Brothers Library Lamp Posters from the Broughton collection are offered as lot 302 in the sale.
His fascination with lamp and lighting history led David to start a “cottage industry” as the publisher of the periodical Sir Lampsalot. This pet project featured a republished reference series of manuals for avid lamp collectors. One, a reprint of the 1883-84 Bradley & Hubbard Kerosene Lighting Fixture Catalogue, featured 600 oil lamps stamped with the company’s name.
Pictured above from the David Broughton Collection: Composite Figural Stem Kerosene Stand Lamp (Lot 312), Green “Blackberry” Kerosene Stand Lamp (Lot 339), "Baby Thumbprint" Kerosene Stand Lamp (Lot 315).
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On March 26th nearly 300 lamps gathered by three longtime members of the Historic Lighting Society of Canada will hit the market through Miller & Miller Auctions. The distinguished collections of Keith Dill, Valerie Lister, and the late David Broughton will find new homes so that their stories can be told again and again.
By Nancy Silcox
Nancy Silcox, of New Hamburg, is a former teacher and university counsellor. She has written 14 books, most of them historical biographies.
Sale Details:
Historic Lamps & Lighting
The Dill, Lister and Broughton Collections
Sunday, March 26, 2023
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